infected
by naedie
Summary: Having stayed the weekend in one their parent's cabins, four girls find that overnight their world has changed. The battle for survival is treacherous and but soon they find allies and make a discovery that will change the future.
1. Chapter 1

chapter one

frankly, I'd rather be dead. The kind of dead that makes you stay in one place, there for eternity, your flesh turning to dust, bones bleaching in the sun. The world was simple when death was a place of rest, your soul leaving for another world and your body left to rot in the ground.

…

We were alone, the four of us, gone adventuring to one of our families cabins in the mountains of Washington state, it was late summer and boredom had set in. We thought how nice it would be to be able to be alone, an epic slumber party before we graduated next year, we had saved and planned days away from summer jobs and strangely our parents had agreed to drop us at at the closest cabin, about a mile from the highway, and only forty-five minutes from our town.

Sarah's Dad dropped us off, with maps, phone numbers and contingency plans for every case of emergency.

Three days later, we were hungover and exhausted waiting for Mr Elden, Sarah's dad to pick us up. After almost three days of swimming and drinking smuggled vodka with whatever we could conjure up, all of us feeling pretty under the weather and were keen to get home to our own beds and some alone time, we loved each other but after almost 72 hours together we were looking for some quiet.

"What the hell?" An hour after he was due, and having been waiting a good half an hour before he had told us he would be here, Sarah, who's cabin we were staying at, was pissed. She was always hot-headed, and of course was the first to start complaining. All of us were feeling miserable and I was glad of the extra time to try and flush out the effects of last nights alcohol with water and a nap on my rucksack, the grass was soft and the breeze was welcome, bringing crisp air to my nose that seemed to be way more sensitive in this state and the summer smells were helpful to calming my rolling stomach.

It was strange though, him being late. He was never, ever late. He had been out reliable chauffeur all through our high school years and not once were we late too school.

It was entirely plausible that he was just off time, it happens sometimes, and eventually, as another half hour went by, we all started to speak up, reassuring each other that all was well, and it was just a one-off.

"Maybe the battery died, that happened to my mom once. It took an hour for her to find someone to get it started again." Leah was always the voice of reason. we stopped talking after that, all of us starting to become a little uneasy but no-one wanting to continue to voice the growing concern.

It was quiet. once I realised it I actually found it hard to rest. I was so used to noises, either if birds or light traffic in town. There was nothing, the ambience of life had stopped.

"Hey, does anyone notice how quiet it is?"

It silenced further still, as the four of us strained to hear anything. It was eerie. That was when my almost indifference to the strange behaviour of Sarah's dad, started to become an unease that settled in my already queasy stomach.

"I think we should go back to the cabin." It was Leah who spoke. Sarah groaned. Muttering under her breath, she rose, grabbing her bags and the rest of us followed.

"Shouldn't we wait, I'm sure he won't be much longer." Lauren was usually the loudest of us but after last night she was the most hungover. It was the first time she had said anything since we arrived and the roadsidee.

I felt uneasy, the silence around us making the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. As we walked down the beaten path back toward the cabin, I tried to quell the feeling and make myself think on other things but no matter how I tried I couldn't shake the feeling that something was seriously wrong.

We reached the cabin, dumping out things in the living room and all of us branching out to find couches and beds to sleep off the effects of lasts night.

It was dark when I woke, for a few seconds I'm home, before the window opposite with the faint light from the moon illuminates the trees outside so different from my bedroom window.

It's eerily quiet, the sounds of the forest outside no longer a comforting chatter in the background, instead it was dead silent. There was no sign of Sarah's dad, and at the realisation that we were still here, with no way of contacting anyone.

"Leah…Leah wake up!" She was sleeping beside Lauren who I'd rather not wake beforeI could talk to Leah, with her level head she was probably going to be the most reliable in this situation.

She jerked up blinking rapidly until her eyes focused in the dark room. "What time is it?" She flung off the covers and stepped toward the window pulling back the curtains to look outside.

"I have no idea, I can't find my phone."

"How late is it?" She goes about answering her own question, flicking open her old flip phone, the light glaringly bright the large back digits displaying eight forty five.

I watch, her eyebrows pull together as she thinks, her trademark look. " He said we could walk to the village, down the other side of the mountain. We should go in the morning, if he still hasn't shown up."

The next morning we all hiked down the mountain, it took is about 40 minutes, we knew we would have access to a phone and emergency supplies if we needed.

It was apparent something horrible had happened within minutes of arriving. one of the main windows of the old gas station had been smashed, the lights still on, cars parked haphazardly in front was what first drew our attention, the doors open and some were even left running.

I remember the feeling of fear, it sunk into my stomach like a heavy weight, My eyes darted about, my fingers trembled and I suddenly found it hard to keep walking.

…

The body was still twitching. The sickly blue tinge to the skin was so inhuman, and yet, the body, a woman, clothes in average jeans and pink shirt, her hair still up in a bun although now it was matted with what looked like blood but much darker almost black, one side of her skull dented from the number of hits it took with the pole I still held.

Lauren was vomiting. I wasn't far off. It moved again, almost lunching toward me, I reacted, hurling the pole into its head with all my strength my body still fuelled with adrenaline.

The next few minutes are a blur, I wondered over to lauren, dropping the pole, my hands shaking, my eyes never leaving the now still body of the woman lying on the ground at our feet. I thought It was going to hug her, Lauren who i had liked but wasn't my favourite, still now, here, she was real, normal and I needed it, the reassurance that not all was different in the few hours since we had left the cabin.

Instead, she bent over, her back curling violently as she again gave up the contents of her stomach. I helped her through it, my hands glad of something to do as they rubbed her back.

I could only continue staring at the body, the skin blue with dark veins, lips almost black eyes a strange milky colour. Her hair was brilliant red.

"Bella!?"

"Leah!" I stepped away from lauren, who straightened and pulled at my hand. I looked toward the sound of leaks voice. She held overfilled plastic bags in her hands.

"What the fuck!" She didn't ever swear, but now it seemed more fitting then ever.

WHAT. THE. FUCK. I kept repeating it in my head. Leah and Sarah stood beside us, looking down at the body. "I don't know what it is" I surprised myself when I spoke, I sounded nothing like me. I was like a Monotone, a robot.

"Are there more?" IT was Sarah who spoke, her voice quite like mine. We had all tuned off, Leah still held her bags, filled with bread and snacks, the plastic stitching under the weight.

" I have no idea."

We didn't stick around, we searched the local grocers, much like the gas station it was smashed and many of the shelves were empty. We took what we could find. It was strange, looking back. We all assumed, without speaking, we knew, and we seemed to all come to the same conclusion.

…

We debated vigorously whether or not to walk back to forks. It would take us a few hours, I wasn't keen. After having faced the woman at the service station I was still shaken, and rationality agued that I would be safer here, alone.

I however was out numbered. The argument was that we needed to find our families and while I feared walking into a town with a much bigger population I also wanted very much to find my parents.

We left the next day. We walked silent, still dazed. We had Ideas, mostly the same thing. We had seen movies that strangely played out almost the same circumstances, towns left empty but for strange beings, infected. Fact is, we still had no idea how far it had spread. We weren't of the illusion though that our small town was untouched, Sarah's dad had yet to turn up.

….


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER TWO

We were a half a mile from my house, right on the outskirts of town when we heard the noise. I was expecting quiet, the strange eeriness like we had experienced during the last two days.

As we neared, the familiar highway narrowing as it turned into the small town of Forks. Sounds could be heard, car sirens and dogs barking.

My fingers trembled and my heart started to race. I started looking for something, anything that I could hold, something to give me the comfort of protecting myself.

The road we walked along was still lined with forest on either side and after another minute of walking the noises only became louder. We moved into the trees, trying our best to move as silently as possible.

It was madness, the sounds of every dog in the surrounding streets barking and jumping behind fences. Cars were parked all over the road their windows smashed.

it looked like the entire town had been attacked by bears.

My eyes stopped seeing what was in front of me, instead I watched images replayed in my head, the woman with dark veins in blue skin, milky eyes and gnashing teeth.

"Bella!." It was Leah, her hand clamped over my mouth. She looked down at me, I was on my knees, the world suddenly tilted, the forest floor beneath my hands. I looked up at her, my eyes watery.

She lifted a finger her lips, telling me to keep silent. I hadn't realised I had been making noise.

I heard it before I saw it, almost like a gurgling. I looked up, and watched through the trees as at least a dozen bodies slowly pulled themselves from the ground, they stood and faced to where we were hiding in the trees they stumbled as they walked painfully dragging their feet along the asphalt, the same blue skin marred with black veins like tattoos covered their bodies.

Lauren screamed, I look back at her, she stumbled back and fell Sarah tried to pull her up, Leah had her hands on my jacket collar hauling me up onto my feet, I looked through the trees to see the bodies moving faster.

We ran. We ran until my tongue was thick with the taste of blood and I could barely draw breath.

We stopped when the sounds our assailants were lost behind us, my mind was still filled with the images, acid taste of bile rising up in my throat.

"This can't be happening." It was Leah who spoke first. She had her head buried between her knees, her hands clasped tightly together. I watched her, the rock of our group, the level head. Her eyes filled with fear and her body trembling with exertion and fear.

Sarah looked barely coherent, her face flushed deep red much like the rest of us.

I surprised myself when I spoke. "We need to get back to the cabin." Lauren looked at me, her eyes filled with tears. "But what then?"

"I don't know, but we know its safe there. For now"

We picked ourselves up and started walking back down the highway, the silence becoming a welcome greeting.

…

We had been here five days. We had no food. We had plenty of water, but we had already gone almost 24 hours without eating anything and Lauren was panicking. Leah and I were pretty scared, but we didn't take about it, Sarah was almost constantly crying, which frankly just got on my nerves.

We knew we had to go back to the village we had visited first, we figured that it being a smaller population than Forks it was a safer bet. Leah came out of the cabin with kitchen knives taped to the broom and mop handles and any other tools she could find with an end we could hold, knives of various sizes all glinting in the sunlight as we walked.

…

We were filling a cart with every possible food item we could find, there wasn't much left, but there was a heap of pasta and rice and beans, there was no fresh food or meat. All the lights were still on, the automatic doors still slid open, and the hum of the registers, all open and empty of their contents was disconcerting. Either the owners had emptied everything before they lefts or the place had been looted for cash. The thought was uncomfortable, goosebumps formed all over and a shiver rocked down my spine.

Lauren and I were throwing items in a cart at one end of the small grocer, Leah and Sarah were at the other. We could hear each other all of us almost vibrating with fear.

We all heard the sliding door open accompanied by the sound of the broken glass being crushed under heavy footsteps. I heard them take a few steps, before they stopped and the shop was almost completely silent as we all froze.

I waited, I knew we were out of sight from the door and while I could barely breath, instinct took over, grabbing Lauren's hand tightly I raised my fingers to my mouth, silently telling her to remain quiet.

Lauren shook, tears streaming down her face. I watched her, seemingly void of emotion. There was nothing, no other sounds. I knew it wasn't one of them, the silence gave it away but i found myself just as afraid.

Another step broke the silence, then another, I knew one more and I would see whoever it was. I wanted with baited breath. Another step and I could see him, tall, in sturdy clothes and heavy boots, a huge metal pole grasped in both hands.

He saw me, his eyes narrowing as he quickly closed the distance between us. I shrank back, Lauren let out a squeak, her body shaking with sobs. He stopped only a few steps away, looking at us for a few seconds.

"Where were you?" His voice was surprisingly smooth despite his rough appearance.

"A cabin." I wasn't going to tell him where.

"Take me to it."

I didn't say anything, he watched his eyes drifting over to a still shaking Lauren her cheeks drenched with tears, he rolled his eyes pulling a large backpack from his shoulders he began filling it with the items in our cart. Without thinking, as he picked up a packet of semolina, I snatched it from him and threw it back into the cart.

"No." I knew I could be making a mistake, but i didn't want him knowing where we lived, it was our one safe place and there was something about him that I didn't like.

He laughed.

"Look girlie, either you take me to your nice little cabin or.."

he paused and shoved another item into his bag.

" I'll kill you, up to you."

Lauren sobbed even harder. I sagged, watching him take everything from out cart. Once it was almost over filled he forced the zip shut and slung it back over his shoulders. At the bottom of the cart was our makeshift weapons. He picked them up, raising a brow, smirking. He tucked them under his arm, the knives pointed toward us.

He used the metal pole he carried to prod me, pushing me backward until I walked forwards in front of him, I didn't let go of Lauren's hand.

As we walked towards the front of the shop Leah and Sarah appeared from another isle, their faces terrified.

The pole in my back was removed and the man swung around to look at them.

"You got food?" Leah nodded. He looked back around at me, nodding his head towards leah, We walked towards them. Down the isle their cart was almost half full.

"Find bags." He walked a few paces to the end of the isle, near the door, before turning to watch us.

We found a roll of scented trash bags and filled them once we were done we slowly walked back toward the man who stood guard at the door.

He had us walk in front he kept prodding us in the back with the metal pole he carried, once we out of the tiny carpark we turned up towards the mountain road but before we even walked a few steps the man behind us whistled a long low sound, he did it twice over before there was movement behind us.

within a minute figured appeared from inside houses along the other side the street, all of them carrying something over their shoulders as well as a weapon.

Most noticeable was a tiny woman, the ax she carried looked way to big for to be able to handle and as they all walked towards us i noticed that she drew close to a tall tattooed man, his clothing almost in tatters.

They stopped in a group just a few steps away, all of them looking us up and down. I shook slightly but tried not to show it. No-one spoke, instead they seemed to wait on someone, I noticed out captor looked uneasily towards one of the other men, when I followed his gaze up to the face of one of the men who had appeared from the street, he was already looking at me, his eyes fierce. He stared at me for what seemed an age, I was stuck in his gaze unable to breathe, he finally looked away, his eyes sliding almost predatorily toward the man who found us.

He didn't speak, instead our captor started speaking fast. He told him how he found us and where we were taking them.

I watched the others, all of them quiet after he had spoken. They looked exhausted, and most of them had clothes that had been shredded, the skin that showed was covered in bruises and deep scratches and dried blood. I wondered what they had been through to look this way.

As I watched them I met the eyes of the little woman, her eyes were keen on me for a moment before her face pulled into a frown, her eyes becoming vacant, It only lasted a few seconds before she blinked, her eyes focusing back on me.

"We should go." She spoke with a strange air of authority, The man in front swung around to look at her, she stepped further forward, closing the gap between them, they didn't speak, she just stared at him, her face determined.

They stared that way, his back to us for a long moment, his shoulders rising rigidly as he seemed to breathe in frustration before he turned towards us again.

"Go."

We started walking, we carried the bags we had loaded and the others carried whatever they had looted from the buildings in the street. We walked back up the mountain, the road slowly turning into the narrow laneway that led in a winding path toward our cabin.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter three

We had been at the cabin for two days. Leah, Sarah, Lauren and myself had all been sleeping on the floor, the men had taken every spare couch and bed and were not sharing anything, not that we were keen to share but the floor was cold and uncomfortable, making sleep near impossible. We fetched food and prepared it but were left to eat only the pittance leftovers.

The group was in bad shape and had spent days resting and eating, there was very little talk, I still didn't know who they were and for how long they would be staying. When we first arrived they all stripped there torn and filthy clothes and strangely, the blonde leader was the one who carefully washed and even stitched them, he tore the bed sheets for makeshift slings and bandages. Once he was done, all of the group had various body parts strapped and were sprawled over every surface.

We were left to fend for ourselves mostly, we were yelled at when they wanted us but I spent a lot of time watching one of them. He spent hours alone in the woods with a long stick he had made from the handle of a shovel. He masterfully swung it about himself as though in combat.

It was after I had climbed a nearby tree and had been watching for almost an hour, that he spoke to me.

"Do you want to learn?" He spoke as he swung the stick from hand to hand in a smooth figure eight. I jumped. I had no idea he knew I was here. He turned and looked right at me, smiling.

"It's a type of martial arts. I used to teach it."

I shrugged. He held his hand out to me, his face kind. "I'm sorry to say this, but your gonna need it kid."

He was right, and frankly, I was bored of doing nothing all day. I jumped down from the tree I was sitting in and walked the few paces toward him. He handed out his stick for me to take, it was heavy in my hand but where he had held it was smooth.

"Now hold it in both hands like this." He placed in my right hand first and then my left, he let me balance the weight of it before he grabbed my right hand and rolled the wood over my palm.

"Use just your right hand, balance it in the middle." He spoke softly, it was nice compared to the jolting sounds of the other men's voices over the last days. I did as he instructed letting the wood fall from one side to the other before balancing it in my palm.

"Let me." He gently took the stick from me and held it out in his hand directly in the centre. He then rolled his hand over completely making the stick rotate in a full circle, he did that a few times before handing it to me.

I tried it, letting my palm flip over and the stick roll over it. It fell to the ground. He picked it up. "Try again." I tried a few more times and eventually, I could do it. I couldn't help smiling as the wood glided over my hand in a perfect circle.

He held his hand out for the stick. I stopped it, giving it back to him.

"I'm Morgan" He held out his hand. I shook it. "Bella"

"Nice to meet you, Bella." He smiled at me before walking back toward the cabin. I was a little sad it had ended so soon, It was nice to think about something constructive, instead of letting the grief and fear become all consuming.

I missed my dad, I missed school and work and everything that normal life had been. I used to hate it, to dream of college in the city, now I would do anything to go back.

I went in search of the other girls. Sarah and Lauren had become almost comatose, they barely spoke and cried all the time. It was strange that they were my best friends and yet now, I could barely stand to be around them.

I felt bad. I found them, by the river, they sat with their feet in the water, hair wet from a swim. I watched as they stared blankly across the water.

"Hey." They didn't answer. I sat down beside them, pulling of my shoes to let my feet slip into the cool flowing water. No-one said anything for a long time, we all just stared, thinking.

"What are we going to do?" It was Leah who spoke, I was unsure of if it was me she was speaking to, so often she had been the steady one, the smart one, Now she was quiet and lost like we all were, but I thought she would be the last to let it get to her.

I finally answered, it was useless but I wanted her to feel like I cared. "I don't know" Sarah started crying, Lauren grabbed her hand and squeezed it. Looking out across the water, life felt normal, the sounds were the same, the smells, the warmth of the sun on my skin.

"argh!" it was loud, it made us all jump to our feet in a second. I grabbed my shoes, running toward the cabin, I heard the others following. There was some kind of altercation taking place outside the cabin, the blonde leader was holding someone by the neck, I gasped as I got a glimpse of the bright face and bulging eyes of the person he held, their feet inches off the ground.

"Jake!" It was Leah who called out, she ran from behind me toward the scuffle, her body pushing with all her strength into the blonde, knocking his arm. He didn't budge from holding the young man's throat and I watched in horror as he used his other free hand to punch her in the face, knocking her onto the ground, blood streaming from her nose.

I ran to her, she was dazed and struggled to stand, blood streamed from her nose down her neck and her eyes were already puffing up.

"What the hell!" I ran toward him, his hand still holding the man's throat. I pointed my fingers and poked him as hard as I could in the ribs. In a second he tossed the man down, his body limp. The others crowded around us, grabbing him off the ground and hauled him back. The blonde cornered me, his hand now on my throat he squeezed and lifted me off my feet.

My throat burned with the amount of pressure he used, and I started to see spots in my vision. I watched as someone approached, through a tunnel I could make out the voices, so calm and collected compared to the panic in my head.

It was instinct, I never even thought about it. My feet were still bare from the river, and with all my strength I kicked my right foot out, it met its target perfectly. My knees hit the ground hard as I was immediately dropped.

It took a while for my sight to clear and my chest to stop heaving, my throat still felt tight and it burned as I inhaled. Someone lifted me from under my arms and dragged me from where the blonde was still rolled him his stomach, his legs tucked underneath him.

I kept my eyes on the blonde, he was on the ground for a good few minutes. No-one came to help him, they just stared, quiet. Morgan moved to stand in front of me, his eyes keen on him, his posture tense.

"You better stay away from him." His words were whispered as he watched the blonde get to his feet.

The look on the blondes face gave me little comfort in having Morgan between us. His eyes were livid, his pupils looking almost completely black in his face now red with anger. His fists clenched by his sides as he walked quickly towards us, despite where I kicked him he seemed unhindered. I couldn't help but shrink behind Morgan, the adrenaline that fuelled me when I saw him punch Leah and my attack now replaced by cold fear.

"Carlisle there is no need to continue this, let her be" He stood toe to toe with him, The blonde red-faced, the veins in his neck bulging.

"How far will you go?" He spoke through his teeth, his eyes staring past Morgan to glare directly at me. I shrunk back a few steps, preparing myself to run if need be.

"As far as you will push it." Morgan stood a little taller as he replied, rolling his shoulders once before arching his back slightly, their chests almost touched.

Carlisle glared for a moment, his jaw clenching. His eyes were steel, hard and unforgiving in his face, I met them for a second, I couldn't hide the tremor that shook through me. He smiled when he saw it, looking back at Morgan he seemed to unclench slightly.

"She sleeps outside." He walked off, The young man he had by the throat earlier was standing being held by his arms by two men, I wanted to stay and watch what happened but I was dragged into the woods by Morgan.


	4. Chapter 4

four.

Our new life was ...strenuous. Understatement of the century.

It was really fucking hard. for weeks now we worked all day, I was permanently exhausted, there was always something the blonde had us doing. There were the general chores, made harder by the lack of modern conveniences we had never lived without.

But there was a whole new front, meaning more work, less sleep and more strain and fear then I had ever known. not only had we lost power, our food was running low which had everyone on edge, more would be found but never anything substantial, it would be used in days, sometimes only lasting one meal with so many mouths to feed.

We also had no real weapons, the knives and axes were carried about by the ever-growing number of men that were found on patrols and food runs.

I had my staff, and was still using my precious few free hours in the day to practice with Morgan, I was nowhere near as good as he was, but I was stronger already and if I continued on I had a chance of becoming as practised as he was, a goal I very much had to reach if I wanted to live for any considerable time, life was a ticking time bomb, one encounter one mistake and shows over. Death was on the forefront of everyones mind and the weapons argument was becoming a worry, I never thought I would have to think about having to protect myself but now that I did, it was becoming a pressing need, sticks and small knives would only get us so far and everyone knew it, everyone wanted one and there simply wasnt enough. We need guns and lots of ammunition, not only for protection but for food. We are out of meat, freezing anyhting was no longer an option, we had eaten all the meat we had stored and now we were living on tinned meats and canned soups and beans, it was getting us by but it wouldn't last forever.

It all added to the strain, patrols were another. 6-hour shifts of walking the woods in a large circle from the river past the camp and down to the dirt tracks where they met the highway, about a 6-mile hike there and back.

More and more infected were making their way up, every day at least half a dozen are killed. So far, Morgan has always been my patrol buddy and hasn't made me do the actual killing, I watch closely, no matter how much my stomach churns, as he quickly hits them over the head, hard enough to create a large dent in their skull, they fall, lifeless to the ground immediately. It looks so effortless, but the way he breaths afterwards, laboured, his eyes wide. It makes me terrified of doing it myself.

He doesn't leave them, he drags them, by their feet to a fallen tree or a shallow grave he digs himself and lays them there, gently as though they were still human.

It's the strangest thing. To be here, killing them. People, most likely from my home town or close by, they wander, at a walking pace, eyes milky and skin blue and black, some with missing limbs, half dragging themselves, skin torn away from their bodies, mouths gnashing when they hear us, they walk blindly toward any sound, I wonder if they can see at all.

I watch, soundlessly as he moves the latest one into the shallow grave dug out between two huge trees. She is young, maybe only a few years older than me. Her arms and neck are covered in horrendous bite marks, whole chunks of flesh missing. She came up from the road, stumbling along, her jeans are torn at both knees, black blood dried over her pale blue skin.

It's her hair that I can't look away from. A dark brown that shines in the sun, it's beautiful, and I am sure, as I look at it, that I have seen it before. She is probably from Forks.

She wears a ring on her engagement finger, a big diamond. I wonder if the man who proposed to her is still alive or wandering the woods somewhere or already dead.

The thought hits hard.

I'll be like her someday, wandering, lifeless, devouring, killing, dooming other innocents to join me in a living hell until our limbs fall of or death, whichever comes first.

We walk silently back to camp. Our six hours were up, the sun was low, hardly any light left to filter through the trees. Morgan was silent, but he was always quiet, he only spoke if necessary, preferring to watch and keep to himself. He saw a lot in our camp, his presence often overlooked. Everything he learned he stored up, keeping for when he needed it. His friendship was invaluable, not only was he a good teacher and the dependent figure I needed right now, he also had some kind of attachment to the blonde, which had helped since I had earned a black mark with my heroics. I knew they had come from the same prison, simply from the way he was dressed when I first saw him, Morgan's was different, black, with a sewn on name and logo, not the standard issue grey prisoner uniform.

He was not a prisoner and yet amongst the chaos, he not only escaped with them, he stayed and continues to stay and he seems to have already had some kind of common ground with the Blonde, who not only has palced Morgan under his leadership but has the entire group, including newcomers, under his assumed command and no-one bats an eye.

I don't like it.

The blonde and his sidekicks, Emmett, Jasper and his girlfriend Alice who I also think worked at the prison. James, I dislike him the most. they are almost always working together, The blonde seems to favour him.

Jacob, who evidently is Leah's cousin, hence the way she reacted when she saw him, He was also at the prison for stealing, he knows Carlisle and gives him a wide berth. He's nice, not much older than us, he claims he got into a bad crowd, which I believe. He walks about the camp, flashing his big toothy grin putting everyone at is by far my favorite person to be with, his presence makes things just that bit easier.

When we get back most of the men are gone. Morgan asks John, an older man from Forks, brought back on one of the food hunts, he sits by the fire looking like he might fall asleep.

I make myself busy, I help Lauren with the food, its rice and beans again, this time I rummage through the food stores in the cabin until I find some canned tomatoes and box of bacon bits. The smell of the bacon wafts through the cabin the salty flavour soaking nicely into the rice and tomatoes and its the most mouthwatering thing I'v smelt in days. I was helping Lauren, but she has disappeared, I stay, making a rough kind of bread with flour, water, salt and dash of powdered milk. I shaped it into rough looking balls and wrapped them in foil, our oven was electric and therefore out of use, but I thought if I buried them with some coal from the fire they could possibly bake. The smells attract the attention of camp, everyone begins to drift over, hungry and waiting.

I enlist the help of Jake and Ben we dig a questionable hole filled with foil covered dough and hot coals. By the time we're done, I'm laughing out loud as we dig up our blackened balls, I thought for sure it was a fail but as we unwrapped them they were light brown and cooked through nicely.

It was well after dark by the time dinner was ready and the blonde is back, I missed what they came back with, but if the laughter and drinking are an indication, something had gone well, even the blonde is unusually happy, the piercing glare he usually gives me whenever I am around was replaced an almost smile as I handed him his meal, he was distracted, his rough hands almost completely covering mine over his bowl as he took it from me, the baked roll I handed him he took and placed in his lap next to a plastic cup filled with an amber liquid balanced precariously between his legs as he immediately started eating. I had been avoiding him like the plague, but in a small camp he was never too far away, we seemed to make eye contact often, his eyes hard and glaring. I was always first to look away, I believed he would hurt me if he wanted.

everyone was happy. I ended up baking another batch of the rolls after jam and honey was found by Jake among the new loot bags brought back today, to which everyone was very happy, the night ended in high spirits, the men especially, drinking and talking well into the night. I helped Jess and Alice clean up, Lauren was sitting beside James, who didnt seem to pay her any mind but she hung off him, giggling at his every word.

I was wrecked, I rolled out my sleeping bag on the front porch of the cabin, after toeing off my boots and sliding inside I promptly fell asleep.


End file.
